The Mouse in the House remains at large. Yesterday we bought some ‘humane’ traps but so far no luck. At one point we had the thing boxed behind a bookshelf with Someone on the one side and Urs Truly on the other playing the proverbial game of cat and mouse but we lost. Someone thinks it not a mouse but something else, a small rat perhaps. I know it’s a mouse. Imagine if you will us on other sides of the bookshelf giving each other updates:
“I just saw the mouse. It’s headed your way now”
“I don’t think it’s a mouse I think it’s a small rat”
“It’s a mouse – oh! he’s back I almost got him!
“Don’t make sudden moves, sent it back my way. It don’t think it’s a mouse”
“It’s a mouse”
etc.
On Saturday morning we went early to Uncle Albertsons to get our foodstuffs for Thanksgiving. I was anxious the place would resemble The Fall of Saigon but at 8AM it was not bad. Uncle A wasn’t short on anything on my list. I was shocked and dismayed to see once again all the TP was gone. I almost wept with the dismay; can we never learn anything or are we doomed to forever repeat folly?* Someone and I did not succumb to this lunacy last spring and we won’t this time. We should have plenty of tissue until the next Loony-Tunes episode.
Last night Someone ushered an outdoor Arizona Opera showing of an opera.** This is the first public gathering I have attended since March. It resembled a small sports stadium with astroturf. I sat on my chair in my ‘pod’ for one, a healthy distance from the others, wearing my mask at all times.
Speaking of masks I am pleased to see nearly everybody in the store and out and about are wearing them. By now everybody has the over-the-ears store-bought surgical masks but I continue with the homemade tie-it-yourself types. Today I got out some Christmas-themed fabric to make some more masks. Alas that this drags that I need some! These four will be of holly, snowflakes, Christmas stars, and The Grinch.
Someone advises me if I am going to launch my turkey endeavor I should start today by pulling out the bird from the freezer. I am looking forward to trying this. Part of yesterday’s shopping was thinking ahead to how to use the leftovers. I might make a turkey casserole or soup. Perhaps I will make both as I suspect we will have a lot of leftovers provided I don’t ruin it.
*History says hell no.
**The opera was Hansel and Gretel. The production was awful. Act II was more or less a food fight taking place in an industrial-type kitchen. The witch was sung by a man in drag. After she/he turns into gingerbread the spectacle ends in a sparagmos. It was rawther unusual.
28 comments
Comments feed for this article
November 22, 2020 at 11:13 AM
Debra She Who Seeks
“I was anxious the place would resemble The Fall of Saigon” — hahahaha!
“or are we doomed to forever repeat folly?” — Yes, yes, we are.
November 22, 2020 at 11:32 AM
Urspo
I think I was at the fall of Saigon as nothing vexes me more than being in an anxious crowd with a fear of missing something if they are not on time
November 22, 2020 at 11:22 AM
David Godfrey
I was at Whole Foods at 8:00AM on Saturday, easy – not crowded, mission accomplished. Thaw the turkey in the refrigerator, starting today at the latest. They take a few days to defrost. Mouse, small rat, whatever it is unwelcome. We know what my mother would have done.
November 22, 2020 at 11:31 AM
Urspo
I just pulled out the turkey too
November 22, 2020 at 11:33 AM
Parnassus
Taipei has less regular lines of supply than the U.S., so here it makes sense to have a stock of the things you need, especially if you are particular about brands and types.
I was thinking about making a special Thanksgiving dish, but since I still don’t think it is a good idea to invite people over yet, I might not bother just for myself. I’ll take a look in the market tomorrow to see if anything looks good.
–Jim
November 22, 2020 at 11:52 AM
Urspo
I support you making yourself something scrumptious for a stay-at-home thanksgiving and be grateful for all you are and have.
November 22, 2020 at 12:00 PM
Bob Slatten
We’ve had one mouse invade our house, though we never saw him; her? At any rate, the mouse was eating bird seed from a feeder to close to the house, and found his way inside, where he built a small condo, with a bed and his stolen bird food stuffs, under the dishwasher. All that was missing was liquid refreshment, so he smartly chewed a whole into one of the hoses and had water as well.
A visit by a dishwasher repairman was all it took to evict him; her?
Our local grocer on Saturday morning was very much like the fall of Saigon; I thought about heading to the roof and helicoptering home.
And, yes, they were out of toilet paper and paper towels, because Americans never learn.
November 22, 2020 at 1:01 PM
Urspo
This is clever prose and I enjoyed reading it.
November 22, 2020 at 12:00 PM
Lori
A rodent in the house makes you do crazy things. Try peanut butter in the trap, they supposedly love it. Glad your shopping was relatively calm. It was pretty busy here when we went and the shelves are looking bare. We were glad they did have what we wanted.
November 22, 2020 at 1:02 PM
Urspo
Several have mentioned the PB and our traps now contain such.
Let us see !
November 22, 2020 at 12:29 PM
Moving with Mitchell
I hope the mouse doesn’t like turkey.
November 22, 2020 at 1:02 PM
Urspo
I am more worried about its fondness for dogfood
Is Moose and good mouser and is he for hire?
November 22, 2020 at 1:24 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
SCAT
Check it.
Scat–discharge from an animal’s alimentary canal.
Is it little rounf pills? It is a mouse.
Is it long and cylindrical? It is a rat.
Have fun!
November 22, 2020 at 1:25 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
round
November 22, 2020 at 1:37 PM
Urspo
I did not know this I will look
November 22, 2020 at 1:53 PM
anne marie in philly
RTG was at the grocery store; many shoppers but not saigon. our market limits you to 2 4-packs of TP per transaction, and 6 rolls of PT per transaction. RTG’s free toikey (said with a noo yawk accent) is thawing in the fridge.
November 22, 2020 at 2:26 PM
Urspo
All groovy for gravy
November 22, 2020 at 3:41 PM
anne marie in philly
all crazy for cranberries
November 22, 2020 at 4:48 PM
larrymuffin
Poor humans they do learn nothing, too bad about this TP phenomenon. I am sure there is a perfectly good psychological explanation to it all related to toilet training in childhood. Happy to hear the little rodent is still around, maybe in the spirit of Thanksgiving it can be forgiven and have a bit of turkey with you all. This would make a very good Disney Family movie. Yes it is not to early to start defrosting the turkey it usually takes at least 48 hours. We want a full report of how it went. Enjoy!
November 23, 2020 at 5:56 AM
Urspo
Someone has a theory the heart of TP hoarding is fear people get angry they may not get some while others have some.
About the mouse, it is monday morning and I just saw him scurrying by.
November 22, 2020 at 5:47 PM
Ron
a “mouse in the house”, been there……TWICE! One night I came home from work and saw the ‘pellets” (mouse poop). I dismissed my sighting from my mind, convincing myself it was debris from outside. Then several night later I came home from work (at 11:30 pm) and I caught the bugger running from the pantry to behind the refrigerator. AH HA! Time form drastic action. I got out the mouse trap. I caught him (a field mouse, fat on at that). Squashed, bloody, eyes bugged out (photo available upon request). But alas several night later more “pellets”. This time I put out one of those humane traps and caught another one! Perhaps the female, starting a family in the warm coils of our refrigerator? I transported her to the end of Oyster Rocks Road and let her go in the wetlands, a far cry from the comfy environs she and “hubby” had planned to spend the winter munching on our goodies in our panty. This was all last year. No sightings this year…….yet. Good luck catching your!
November 23, 2020 at 5:56 AM
Urspo
As of Monday morning he is still scurrying about; the two humane traps seem a bust. Time to get an old-fashioned metal snap type. Oh this will be awful.
November 23, 2020 at 6:55 AM
Lori
Put it on newspaper so you can just wrap it up and dispose of.
November 22, 2020 at 7:28 PM
Old Lurker
Maybe it is neither a mouse nor a rat. Maybe it is a wolverine, or a small stork.
I would bet Dudo is a better mouser than Moose.
November 23, 2020 at 5:58 AM
Urspo
I would be happy if it was a Wolverine or even one of the Cup Fairies but alas it is a mouse. Send Dudo or any cat up to the job.
November 23, 2020 at 5:31 AM
wickedhamster
“Are we doomed to forever repeat folly?” In a word, yes. Pod??? Oh I hate when things end up in sparagmoi, unless it’s the Republican National Convention.
November 23, 2020 at 5:59 AM
Urspo
I do not know why it was called a pod. What was there was a collection of deck chairs in groups, ranging from 1 to 6 (I think). We were told to stay put and not get up and go a-visiting or a-viking.
November 26, 2020 at 9:42 AM
Robzilla, Native of Slam Diego
I visited Uncle Albertson’s on Tuesday night, and strangely enough I had more trouble finding a parking spot than checking out. I only had to pick up about 10 items, and at the time I grabbed the last one every line only had one person waiting. Yay!